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Conservative lawmakers in Florida and Texas have won the right to allow religious chaplains back into public schools, but now ministers from other faiths, including the Satanic Temple, want in on the deal.

The demonic-sounding group, which describes itself as “nontheistic,” is using the debate and others like it to make a point about the growing encroachment of religion on public life.

It would prefer no chaplains in schools, it says, but would settle for equal representation, intentionally goading conservatives who are explicit about wanting Christianity, rather than just religion, in public education.

What’s good for the goose, is good for the goat.

“We think the public should know in advance that that’s what the outcome of these bills can be.”csaid Lucien Greaves, a co-founder of the Satanic Temple.

“If they pass these bills, they’re going to have to contend with ministers of Satan acting as chaplains within their school districts.”

The Satanic Temple, founded in 2013 and recognised as a religion by the IRS, is known for trolling the religious right by taking advantage of Christian campaigns.

When Arkansas installed a statue of the Ten Commandments outside the State Capitol, the Temple unveiled its own statue of Baphomet, a goat-headed figure, there, too. It also offered the Hellions Academy as an alternative to Christian studies during school hours.

The Temple’s website explains that it believes in ‘reason, empathy and the pursuit of knowledge’. And it doesn’t worship Satan. “Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority,” it states. But it’s not just a joke, supporters say. And opponents seem to agree.

One man was charged in January with a hate crime for vandalising the temple’s altar at the Iowa State Capitol. Another was arrested and accused of throwing a pipe bomb at the group’s headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, leaving a note that urged the group to “REPENT” and “TURN FROM SIN.” And a third was arrested this month and accused of plotting to blow up the headquarters.

It definitely started with a kind of humorous or satirical element to it, but this is a movement with hundreds of people that’s been going for 10 years now — they’re quite serious about it.

Joseph Laycock, a religious studies professor at Texas State University even wrote a book about the group.

“They’re willing to put up with death threats. They’re willing to wear bulletproof vests because Neo-Nazis have threatened to kill them if they give a public speech. People don’t normally take those kinds of risks for a joke.”

“The real fear of Christian nationalism is driving people into the arms of groups like the Satanic Temple,” Laycock said.

The laws in Florida and Texas require school boards to vote on whether to appoint chaplains in their districts. Similar bills have been proposed in 13 other states this year. The proposals, which vary slightly, would have chaplains of various denominations serve in similar capacities as school counsellors, in some cases with on-campus offices or salaries paid for by the districts.

Supporters of the original bill have gone on the offensive, vowing that the Satanic Temple won’t infiltrate their schools.

“There will be no Satanists in Oklahoma Schools. Period,” Ryan Walters, the state’s right-wing superintendent of public instruction, recently tweeted. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis even declared at a bill signing that the Temple wouldn’t qualify to provide chaplains. “That is not a religion,” he said.

But legal experts disagree, and warn that conservatives disregard the Satanic Temple at their own peril, because the group’s strategy of stepping into spaces intended for other religions is often effective.

“The Constitution is unambiguous about this. You just cannot take a religious identity and cut it out from a public accommodation. It’s against the law, the school districts will lose, they’ll have to pay the attorneys fees, and frankly, they shouldn’t be pulling their budget into this culture war grandstanding B.S.”

The Temple has been ruffling feathers for quite a while – one of its first actions being to perform a “pink mass” in which gay couples made out over the grave of the mother of Fred Phelps, founder of the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church.

The Temple also protested corporal punishment of children and sued states to argue that abortion restrictions violate their religious rights.

“Do they really care about opening up their spaces for religious pluralism, or do they actually care about just promoting one view of God and Christianity in the public space?”

Rocky Malloy, a born-again Christian and founder of the National School Chaplain Association said his group campaigned to lobby for the Texas chaplains bill. Malloy called it an effort to “bring the boldness of Christ Jesus to public education” and a “legal way to bring God and prayer in school.”

The National School Chaplain Association offers certification provided by Oral Roberts University, a Christian school in Oklahoma that suspends students for being gay.

“Who is against it? Alphabet people,” Malloy said, referring to members of the LGBTQ community. “It messes up their whole agenda.”

The Satanic Temple isn’t the only religious group opposed to chaplains in schools. The Florida Council of Churches, Pastors for Florida Children and the National Council of Jewish Women also opposed the bill with over 100 Texas pastors signing an open letter asking school districts not to hire chaplains.

The Satanic Temple plans to start by placing its first ministers in Florida and Oklahoma. Or as one minister put it: “Basically fighting fire with fire.”

[source:nbcnews]